It has been quite a week for Meredith Stead. No stranger to the public and private service, she served and elevated to become the chair of the City of Boise’s Planning and Zoning Commission during its highest profile period to date: when the commission helped craft a once-in-a-generation zoning code ordinance.
And now, voters have elected her to the Boise City Council … and right after being sworn in, fellow councilmembers chose her to serve as Pro Tem.
Much of it began when she heard outgoing President Barack Obama encourage people on the sidelines to “grab a clipboard, knock on doors and run for office yourself.” She wasn’t exactly ready for that step just yet, but she admits that soon thereafter, she bought coffee for the person behind her in line.
“It started very small,” she recalled, “And then, I made conscious decisions from that moment to grow that area of impact.”
Stead visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about that “area of impact” and some of the considerable challenges in the wings.
“It just did have an impact on me to want to do better for my community.”Meredith Stead
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. Good morning. I'm George Prentice. Meredith Stead is here… having spent some of the last year as an appointee to the Boise City Council….voters, then in District No. 5 gave her a decisive victory in the general election. And just this week, she was sworn in for a full tum of office. Meredith Stead, good morning.
MEREDITH STEAD: Good morning. George. Thank you so much for having me today.
PRENTICE: Indeed, we know your work as marketing director at Ballet Idaho, marketing manager for Boise Valley Economic Partnership and over at Albertsons, and then serving as a commissioner and ultimately chairperson of the City of Boise's Planning and Zoning Commission… and now council member Meredith Stead. See if I remember this right? Your call to public service came from when President Obama had a few things to say. When he said, “you need to go grab a clipboard.”
STEAD: Yeah, that's exactly right. Yes. it was back in 2016. I was getting pretty frustrated with the, you know, division in national politics and what we were seeing there. And in Obama's exit speech from office, he said,”If you're frustrated with your elected officials, grab a clipboard, knock on doors, and run for office yourself.” And I didn't necessarily, you know, I didn't at that moment digest that as like, I'm going to work towards being an elected official. But it just did have an impact on me to want to do better for my community. And if I can't control what's going on nationally, what can I control? And it started off very small. I think that the next morning I bought coffee for the person behind me in line. And then that was my, you know, my area of positive impact. And then, you know, I made conscious decisions from that moment really to grow that area of impact.
PRENTICE: On the P and Z Commission, you were right in the thick of that effort to craft a new zoning code. It is reality now. Is it fair to say…. that I think everyone agrees it is bound to see some change… but do you think, at least for the near future, it's about nuance….about reality?
STEAD: I mean, it is interesting what we've been trying to communicate, I think, at the city is that, you know, it'll be probably a good 12 to 18 months, maybe even before we start seeing, um, you know, bigger projects as a result of the zoning code change. Um, I know that we've seen a couple of smaller projects submitted. I know one that has already been talked about is a four plex with a coffee shop concept near Cameslback Park. Um, but so I think it will be some time before we start seeing the shape of our city start to take place under this new zoning code. I think that'll still be a while. We just heard a project recently at council where basically you need for, you know, every, every primary residence needs to have a parking spot, which I support that. But basically that means that you need about 40ft of between the on site parking and the off site parking. For off site backup space, you need over 40ft for a parking spot. And you know, in some of the neighborhoods where I think that we're most eager to have some of this infill and ADIu projects spring up. Um, that's a real challenge to accomplish. And so there are definitely still, um, you know, still nuances, as you mentioned, that need to be addressed. I think as the code comes into practice, as these types of things materialize, you know, maybe we don't need 45ft for a parking spot in the north end, for example. Um, but these are all things that I think we won't really know until we they start coming before us to realize that there might be some gaps to getting towards what we want to achieve.
PRENTICE: And the key word is always “exception,” right?
STEAD: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, you know, this is a new it can look really nice on paper and we just don't know what holes might emerge as it comes forward. I think the, you know, so many people worked on this effort and it was it includes a lot of voices. And I think it's a tremendous start. And also, you know, as we know it, it has an annual review built into the code that will, um, require ongoing evaluation. So I don't think anybody would say, you know, this box has been checked and now we can move on.
PRENTICE: I can't help but think that we are at a crisis level of people being hit by and in too many instances… killed in pedestrian versus vehicle accidents. I know we have a task force. But this does seem to be bigger than nearly any other challenge in front of us. Immediately. What can we do?
STEAD: I think even. The awareness and conversations like this is is something that can be done right now. I mean, there are, as you mentioned, you know, there are some really great efforts happening on a larger scale. I know that the city of Boise is working with ACHD on,implementing over $32 million in bike and pedestrian projects through.
PRENTICE: But isn't this also about getting in between people's ears? It is about change.
STEAD: I know that our police force often says, you know, safety is a shared responsibility, right? Everybody has a responsibility to create a safe space for our community. Um, and the that is the most immediate action, right, is education for motorists and cyclists and pedestrians. And I think that conversations like this is a is a great step towards awareness. I mean, even in in my day-to-day conversations, um, you hear folks say that they're now thinking twice about stepping on the gas when a light turns yellow. And that might seem trivial, but, you know, if if each one of us carried that with us, you know, we'll arrive in five minutes sooner isn't worth the risk.
PRENTICE: You know what? That might be it. That might be it. The yellow light. That might be the conversation that is missing.
STEAD: Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting I mean I do think that it, you know, it is it is a human level this you know and we can policy makes a big difference right. That's why we ask for things like street trees and setbacks. And all of that works towards creating safer spaces for everybody on the road. But I think it really does come down to awareness and talking about it and thinking about it more often than just trying to rush to your next destination.
PRENTICE: Okay, so you now have a permanent space on the dais and that name plate is going to be there for a little while. So here we go. What does Boise need right now that it doesn't have.
STEAD: t might sound like we've talked a lot about this, but in from what I heard on the campaign trail and what I hear from folks regularly is that variety of housing options for our residents, we need housing. You know, we need, um, all types of housing that comes in all types of, um, cost points. And, um, I think that, you know, we're on the track to get there, but we need to continue to refine what we're seeing to reach that change that we need in the housing options.
PRENTICE: And here we go. Meredith Stead, Council member Meredith Stead get used to this. Great good luck. But for now, have a really good beginning of a new year. And thanks for giving us some time.
STEAD: Thank you so much, George. It's always a pleasure. Have a great day.
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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